63  Shaw,    George 

B2^n2p  reminiscences   of 

\G£  Abraham  L  i  nc 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Personal  Reminiscences 
of  Abraham  Lincoln 


BY 

GEORGE  W.  SHAW 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://www.archive.org/details/personalreminiscOOshaw 


Personal  Reminiscences 
of  Abraham  Lincoln 


BY 

GEORGE  W.  SHAW 


PRIVATELY    FRINTED 

CARLSON    PRINTING    CO. 

MOLINE,    ILL 
1924 


PRINTED 
OF  WHICH  THIS  IS  NO. 


41 


n 


*o 


INTRODUCTION 

JJf  HE  Ethical  Club  of  Geneseo  is  an  associ- 
f|L  ation  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  for  the 
^^  study  of  ethics,  history  and  literature. 
While  engaged  on  the  history  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Civil  war,  they  requested 
me  to  give  personal  recollections  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  following  remarks  were  made 
and  partly  published  in  The  Geneseo  News.  I 
have  revised  and  enlarged  The  News'  report  at 
the  request  of  Mr.  J.  B.  Oakleaf,  of  Moline. 
GEO.  W.  SHAW. 
Geneseo,  111.,  Nov.  16,1911. 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

/[f[JY  boyhood  was  spent  in  the  village  of 
2jjfl  Tremont,  in  Tazewell  county,  Illinois, 
«W%    The  p|ace  was  foun(je(j  in  1835  by  a 

colony  consisting  principally  of  people  from 
New  England  and  Eastern  New  York.  The 
county  already  had  some  population  consisting 
largely  of  settlers  from  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see. The  earlier  comers  looked  askance  at  the 
new  colonists  for  a  short  time,  but  it  soon 
appeared  that  there  was  a  bond  of  union. 
The  men  from  the  South  were  largely  Whigs, 
warm  admirers  of  Henry  Clay.  The  Eastern 
men  were  of  the  same  party  and  with  like  ad- 
miration for  the  great  champion  of  a  protective 
tariff. 

Tazewell  county  became  one  of  the  Whig 
oases  in  the  great  democratic  desert  of  Illinois. 
The  position  of  Tremont  was  central  and  it 
became  the  county  seat.  About  1840  a  new 
court  house  was  built,  which  was  one  of  the 
best  the  state  could  boast.  It  was  the  pride  of 
our  people.  Not  until  ten  years  thereafter 
did  Chicago  have  as  good  a  one. 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

To  our  court  house  came  judges  and  lawyers, 
mostly  Springfield  men,  some  of  whom  obtained 
distinction  in  later  years.  Judge  Treat  was 
on  our  circuit.  He  was  afterwards  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  and 
subsequently  and  up  to  his  death  a  U.  S.  Cir- 
cuit Judge.  Judge  Davis  was  on  our  circuit. 
He  afterwards  became  one  of  the  justices  of 
the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court.  Judge  Logan,  who 
left  the  bench  after  no  long  tenure  of  judicial 
position,  was  for  many  of  his  later  years  the 
recognized  head  of  the  Springfield  bar.  The 
attorneys  I  mainly  remember  were  John  Stew- 
art, able,  dignified  and  amiable— a  man  of 
model  character;  Ben  Edwards,  a  skillful  and 
indomitable  practician;  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Edward  D.  Baker.  My  attention  was  early 
attracted  by  the  appearance  of  Lincoln.  His 
height  and  his  shabbiness  were  marked 
peculiarities.  He  wore  a  linen  coat  much  the 
worse  for  wear,  a  very  cheap  straw  hat,  linen 
trousers,  apt  to  be  tucked  into  the  tops  of  his 
boots. 

His  homeliness  was  phenomenal.  His  face 
was  angular  and  irregular;  his  exceedingly 
long  legs  aggravated  his  height;  his  arms 
dangled  awkwardly.  I  have  met  with  a  maga- 
zine article  which  attempted  to  prove  him  a 
handsome  man.     Mr.    Lincoln  had  no  such 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

illusion.  He  told  of  himself  the  following 
story:  He  had  made  a  vow  that  if  he  should 
ever  encounter  a  man  homelier  than  himself 
he  would  shoot  him.  Years  passed  before  any- 
thing occurred  to  recall  the  vow,  until  one  day 
when  out  hunting  he  came  upon  a  man  who 
seemed  to  excel  him  in  ugliness.  He  was 
about  to  shoot  when  the  victim  remonstrated 
and  asked  for  an  explanation.  When  the  vow 
was  told  him  he  surveyed  Mr.  Lincoln  atten- 
tively andsaid  resignedly:  "Well,  stranger,  if 
I  am  homelier  than  you,  shoot!"  The  homi- 
cide must  have  been  considered  justifiable,  for 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  indicted. 

But  though  not  handsome,  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
an  attractive  man.  The  homely  face  beamed 
with  intelligence  and  good  humor.  The  farm- 
ers who  attended  court  with  their  cases  of  tres- 
pass by  cattle  at  large,  felt  on  intimate  terms 
with  a  man  so  completely  one  of  themselves, 
and  long  before  he  was  old  he  was  called  "Old 
Abe  Lincoln,"  as  school  boys  called  their  play- 
mates old  fellows. 

I  have  mentioned  another  man  of  subsequent 
fame— Edward  P.  Baker.  He  was  a  man  re- 
markable alike  for  the  strength  of  his  judg- 
ment and  the  brilliancy  of  his  imagination. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  politics  of  the 
time,  was  a  supporter  of  Clay  in  1844  and  was 

9 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

elected  to  Congress.  When  the  Mexican  war 
broke  out  in  1846,  he,  in  common  with  many 
Whigs  (Lincoln  included)  volunteered.  They 
were  anxious  to  avoid  the  imputation  of  want 
of  patriotism.  Baker  became  colonel  of  a  regi- 
ment and  soon  assumed  such  a  position  in  the 
army  that  he  commanded  a  brigade  at  the 
storming  of  Monterey,  and  I  think  at  Buena 
Vista.  His  regiment  was  then  transferred 
from  the  army  of  Taylor  to  that  of  Scott.  In 
the  battles  on  the  march  to  the  capital  he 
commanded  a  brigade. 

Returning  to  Illinois,  he  found  that  many 
Whigs  who  had  opposed  the  war  were  alienated 
from  him  by  the  part  he  had  taken  and  he 
was  not  the  unquestioned  head  of  the  Whig 
party  in  the  state.  He  went  to  California  at 
the  time  of  the  great  emigration,  and  took  a 
high  place  among  the  bar  of  San  Francisco; 
but  the  political  distinction  he  desired  did  not 
await  him  there.  He  removed  to  Oregon  and 
in  1860  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate. 
He  was  at  last  in  his  proper  place.  He  had  no 
period  of  timid  silence  while  the  rules  are 
learned,  but  stepped  at  once  to  the  front  among 
such  men  as  Sumner  and  Fessenden.  His 
scarification  of  Breckenridge  hastened  the  exit 
of  that  traitor  from  the  Senate.  He  volun- 
teered in  the  Union  army  and  his  splendid 

10 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

military  career  in  Mexico  secured  him  at  once 
a  regiment.  He  took  the  field  in  command  of 
a  brigade,  and  at  Ball's  Bluff  encountered  a 
superior  force  of  the  enemy.  Advised  to  re- 
treat, he  said:  "With  my  antecedents  I  can- 
not turn  my  back  upon  the  enemy."  He  fell 
on  the  field  of  battle. 

"Fit  couch  it  seemed  for  consular 
And  senator  of  Rome." 

He  seemed  like  a  Roman  Senator  of  the  best 
days  of  the  Republic;  wise  in  halls  of  council; 
valiant  and  able  on  fields  of  battle;  eloquent 
in  the  forum.  I  have  heard  many  public 
speakers  of  high  repute,  Wendell  Phillips, 
Rufus  Choate,  Thomas  Corwin,  George  Thomp- 
son, the  English  parliamentarian;  and  pulpit 
orators,  Beecher,  Chapin,  Alexander  Campbell; 
but  the  impression  is  firmly  fixed  in  my  mind 
that  I  have  heard  but  two  great  orators.  One 
of  these  was  Edward  D.  Baker,  the  other  was 
Daniel  Webster. 

We  cherish,  as  we  ought,  the  memory  of  our 
leaders  who  fought  the  great  conflict  to  a 
finish.  Let  us  also  cherish  the  memories  of 
those  two  mighty  champions  of  the  Union  who 
fell  on  the  threshold  of  the  strife— Lyon  and 
Baker. 

Diverted  for  a  moment,  I  return  to  Lincoln. 
To  my  knowledge  he  was  in  my  boyhood  recog- 

11 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

nized  as  a  sound  and  able  lawyer.  In  1844  a 
controversy  arose  in  Tazewell  county  on  a  pro- 
posal to  change  the  county  seat,  and  the  ques- 
tion was  discussed  what  the  result  of  a  change 
would  be  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  ground 
donated  and  hitherto  used  as  the  site  of  the 
court  house.  An  election  was  held  and  in  a 
handbill  circulated  to  influence  votes  an  opinion 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  published  which  shows 
sound  legal  sense. 

In  that  year  a  presidential  election  occurred. 
Mr.  North,  late  of  Kewanee,  has  told  me  how, 
during  that  campaign,  he  was  a  fellow  pas- 
senger with  Mr.  Lincoln  on  a  voyage  'round 
the  lakes  from  Chicago  to  Buffalo.  To  while 
away  time  a  political  debate  was  held,  at  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  represented  the  Whig  and  Mr. 
North  the  Abolitionist  party.  Both  agreed 
in  opposition  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  but 
differed  as  to  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Mr. 
North  viewed  it  as  a  measure  necessary  to  the 
continuance  of  the  nation.  Mr.  Lincoln  took 
the  common  and  constitutional  view  that 
slavery  was  merely  a  local  question.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln adhered  to  that  view  for  years,  but  at  last 
learned  better.  Even  in  those  times,  however, 
a  young  Abolitionist  attorney  could  give  an 
able  and  experienced  Whig  speaker  a  hard 
task. 

12 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

I  think  it  was  in  1846  that  we  school  boys 
were  stirred  by  the  rumor  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  Mr.  Douglas  were  to  fight  a  duel.  We 
sympathized  according  to  our  politics,  or 
rather  our  fathers'  politics,  and  desired  the 
triumph  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  supposed 
combatants.  It  was  long  before  I  learned  that 
the  other  party  was  General  Shields,  who  took 
offense  at  some  of  Lincoln's  jokes  and  chal- 
lenged him. 

I  think  it  was  in  1847  that,  while  attending 
court  in  Tremont,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  invited  to 
speak  on  temperance.  Public  opinion  was 
strong  in  favor  of  temperance  in  those  times, 
and  almost  every  citizen  of  the  place  who 
could  make  a  temperance  address  took  his  turn. 
It  was  the  turn  of  the  pastor  of  the  principal 
church  that  evening,  but  he  merely  made  some 
opening  remarks  and  closed  saying:  "I  will 
now  give  place  to  the  strong  man." 

Mr.  Lincoln  rose  to  his  full  height  and  said: 
"If  my  reverend  friend  had  said  the  long  man, 
he  would  have  hit  it." 

His  following  remarks  were  strongly  in  favor 
of  total  abstinence,  and  he  earnestly  advised 
the  boys  to  sign  the  pledge. 

In  1849  the  effort  of  Pekin  to  become  the 
county  seat  of  Tazewell  was  renewed.  An  act 
of  the  Legislature  was  obtained  in  February 

13 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

and  an  election  held  in  September.  The 
change  was  contrary  to  the  interests  and 
wishes  of  the  people  of  the  county,  but  fortune 
favored  Pekin.  The  movement  to  the  gold 
diggings  of  California  was  at  full  height.  A 
steamboat  load  of  emigrants  was  detained  on  a 
sand-bar  in  the  Illinois,  and  the  passengers 
were  brought  to  town  and  voted.  Whisky 
flowed  freely,  general  hilarity  prevailed,  and 
the  election  was  won.  One  of  those  who 
joined  the  sportive  throng  and  cast  an  illegal 
vote  was  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  happened  to  be  in 
Pekin  at  the  time.  It  was  a  thoughtless  joke 
of  a  jocose  man,  but  one  of  the  processes  by 
which  what  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  Gettysburg 
address  calls  "government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people"  so  quickly  perishes 
from  the  earth. 

For  some  years  about  that  time  I  saw  noth- 
ing of  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  the  spring  of  1854  I 
went  to  Springfield  to  study  law.  I  read  in 
the  office  of  Stewart  &  Edwards.  There  on 
my  arrival  I  met  a  student  who  had  been 
reading  some  time  before  me— Shelby  M. 
Cullom.  We  had  grown  up  in  Tazewell  with- 
out knowing  each  other,  but  our  fathers  were 
political  and  personal  friends  and  we  readily 
fraternized.  I  mentioned  him  because  he  is  a 
man  on  whose  character  and  career  Mr.  Lin- 

14 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

coin  exercised  a  great  influence.  He  has 
imitated  the  methods  of  Lincoln  and  become 
as  adroit  and  successful  a  politician  as  Lincoln 
himself. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the 
office  and  I  used  to  listen  with  interest  to  the 
conversations  between  him  and  Mr.  Stewart. 
They  were  friends  of  many  years'  standing. 
They  had  been  together  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war.  To  them  that  war  was  a  kind  of  picnic 
in  a  region  now  known  as  Henry  and  White- 
side counties.  Mr.  Stewart  facetiously  re- 
marked, on  seeing  a  newspaper  report  that 
Congress  was  about  to  make  some  appropria- 
tions for  the  soldiers  of  that  war:  "That 
Black  Hawk  war  is  a  mine  of  wealth.  I  got  a 
title  and  a  quarter  section,  and  now  there  is 
something  more  to  come." 

Lincoln  and  Stewart  were  free  and  social 
and  talked  of  their  cases  and  their  fees.  Lin- 
coln remarked  that  during  the  past  year  he  had 
booked  some  $2,500.  He  said  it  had  taken  him 
a  good  while  to  learn  to  make  charges.  "I  had 
a  good  deal  to  get  over,"  he  said,  and  told  how 
once  down  on  the  river  he  was  in  a  skiff 
watching  the  departure  of  a  steamboat,  when 
two  gentlemen  came  running  down  to  the 
bank  with  a  trunk,  and  one  said  to  him:  "If 
you  will  put  us  on  that  boat  we  will  pay  you 

15 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

well."  "I  rowed  hard  for  two  hours  and  got 
them  on  board,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln.  "One  of 
them  dropped  two  dollars  into  my  boat.  The 
pay  was  so  big  that  it  took  me  a  long  time  to 
get  over  it.  You  see  I  had  a  good  deal  to  get 
over." 

They  talked  of  the  Illinois  Central  case  and, 
with  some  amusement,  of  Chicago  attorneys 
who  had  sneered  at  the  Springfield  bar,  and 
agreed  they  needed  the  good  fees  they  had  re- 
ceived as  a  solace  to  their  wounded  feelings. 
Their  wounds  seemed  healed.  One  morning 
Mr.  Lincoln  came  in  very  tired  and  gave  a 
most  amusing  description  of  his  efforts  (finally 
successful)  to  catch  his  old  horse  out  on  the 
prairie. 

He  gave  the  following  anecdote  of  a  former 
rough  and  ready  governor  of  Illinois:  "I  was 
down  attending  court  at  Carlinville.  There 
was  a  big  crowd  and  horse  races.  Tom  Carlin 
was  there.  There  was  a  failure  of  a  horse 
jockey  who  was  to  ride  a  horse  in  which  Tom 
had  an  interest,  and  he  offered  to  ride.  To  re- 
duce his  weight  he  took  off  his  clothes  and 
rode  the  race  plumb  naked.  After  the  race 
some  dispute  arose  and  before  he  put  on  his 
clothes  he  whipped  a  man." 

To  us  students  these  conversations  taught 
something  of  lawyers  and  the  world. 

16 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

The  years  1854  and  1855  were  years  of  chaos 
in  partisan  politics.  The  Whig  party  was 
much  broken  up  and  its  component  parts  were 
moving  in  different  directions.  Many  who 
were  not  unfavorable  to  the  institution  of 
slavery  joined  the  Democrats:  many  joined  the 
"Know  Nothings";  many  joined  either  the 
organized  Free  Soil  party  or  the  as  yet  hardly 
organized  Republican  party;  some  stood  by  the 
Whig  party  in  inert  uncertainty.  Among  the 
last  was  Lincoln. 

In  February,  1855,  a  sensational  election  oc- 
curred. The  Democratic  candidate  was  the  then 
governor,  Joel  Matteson;  the  Whig  candidate 
Mr.  Lincoln;  the  Free  Soil  candidate  Judge 
Lyman  Trumbull.  The  legislature  balloted 
a  good  many  times,  all  parties  remaining  firm. 
Much  excitement  prevailed.  At  last,  when  it 
became  evident  that  the  Free  Soilers  would 
not  yield,  and  that  a  Democrat  would  probably 
be  elected,  Mr.  Lincoln  advised  his  supporters 
to  vote  for  Judge  Trumbull.  Doubtless  all  the 
while  Mr.  Lincoln  concurred  in  his  own  mind 
with  Mr.  Trumbull  as  to  the  necessity  of  ex- 
cluding slavery  from  the  territories.  At  last 
when  indignation  at  the  Kansas  outrages  had 
given  great  volume  to  the  Republican  move- 
ment, he  fell  in,  and  in  a  state  convention  held 
at  Bloomington  in  June,  1856,  made  a  speech 

17 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

which  gave  him  the  position  of  the  most  in- 
fluential leader  of  the  Republican  party  of 
Illinois.  In  that  year  he  canvassed  the  state 
for  Fremont.  I  was  then  living  in  Tazewell 
county,  and  heard  him  at  Tremont  and  Pekin. 
His  ideas  were  clearly  and  forcibly  expressed. 
He  said: 

"They  tell  me  that  if  the  Republicans  pre- 
vail, slavery  will  be  abolished,  and  whites  and 
blacks  will  marry  and  form  a  mongrel  race- 
Now,  I  have  a  sister-in-law  down  in  Ken- 
tucky, and  if  any  one  can  show  me  that  if 
Fremont  is  elected  she  will  have  to  marry  a 
negro,  I  will  vote  against  Fremont,  and  if 
that  isn't  an  argumentum  ad  hominem  it  is 
an  argumentum  ad  womanum." 

This  joke  never  failed  to  bring  down  the 
house.    And  again: 

"The  constitution  requires  us  to  submit  to 
an  election  of  president  in  a  lawful  mannerr 
and  if  Fremont  is  lawfully  elected  by  a  major- 
ity of  the  American  people,  and  a  minority 
won't  submit  to  the  election,  we'll  make  'em." 

These  brief  extracts  give  a  clear  idea  of  his 
style  and  his  position. 

In  Pekin  he  spoke  one  afternoon  at  a  county 
convention,  and  in  the  evening  again.  A  little 
scene  in  the  afternoon  meeting  was  character- 
istic of  the  period.    There  was  present  at  the 

18 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

convention  a  Mr.  Durham,  an  influential  citi- 
zen of  Washington,  Tazewell  county,  an  ardent 
Whig,  opposed  to  the  disruption  of  the  Whig 
party;  a  Kentuckian  by  birth  and  a  friend  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  He  interrupted  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
contended  against  some  of  his  views.  A  good 
deal  of  excitement  arose  in  the  audience,  and 
Mr.  Durham,  apprehensive  of  being  attacked, 
pulled  out  a  pistol  and  declared  his  resolution 
to  defend  himself.  I  kept  my  eye  on  Mr. 
Lincoln,  anxious  that  he  should  do  or  say 
nothing  to  offend  either  his  new  friends  or  the 
old  line  Whigs  whom  it  was  our  great  object 
to  gain.  His  tact  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
He  sat  quietly  till  the  confusion  subsided  and 
resumed  his  speech. 

After  his  speech  of  that  evening,  my  father 
had  some  conversation  with  him  and  told  me 
that  Mr.  Lincoln  felt  discouraged.  He  said 
the  negro  had  not  yet  served  out  his  time. 

After  1856  I  scarce  ever  met  Mr.  Lincoln. 
The  last  time  I  recollect  seeing  him  was  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1858,  when  I  observed  him 
at  a  distance  crossing  the  court  house  square 
in  Peoria.  He  was  well  dressed.  As  he  dis- 
appeared from  my  sphere  of  observation  he 
was  emerging  into  public  view. 

The  Lincoln  I  knew  was  a  man  of  marked 
traits.    He  was  a  man  of  vigorous  health,  sup- 

19 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

ported  by  regular  and  temperate  habits.  His 
temper  was  placid.  In  the  discussions  of  law 
and  politics  he  was  habitually  kind  and  re- 
spectful to  opponents.  His  frame  of  mind 
was  both  natural  and  the  result  of  experience 
as  to  the  best  way  of  meeting  mankind.  He 
was  jovial,  sometimes  to  excess.  When  on 
circuit  at  some  country  tavern,  his  feet  on  the 
table,  the  centre  of  an  attentive  audience  as 
he  retailed  stories  of  every  grade  of  wit  and 
character  one  might  see  "Old  Abe  Lincoln"  in 
all  his  glory.  Though  extremely  jocose  he 
was,  like  others  of  that  class,  subject  to  revul- 
sions of  feeling  and  periods  of  melancholy* 
The  ear  sensitive  to  the  slightest  murmur  of 
merriment  may  catch  the  echo  of  grief's  deep- 
est tone.  I  once  observed  his  face  as  he  sat 
unoccupied  in  the  court  house,  and  was 
specially  struck  by  its  expression  of  deep  and 
ominous  gloom. 

He  was  ambitious  of  political  preferment 
and  frequently  a  candidate  for  office,  well 
equipped  for  obtaining  votes  by  a  keen  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature.  His  laborious  youth 
and  professional  manhood  had  brought  him 
into  contact  with  every  class  of  men.  As  he 
had  begun  a  common  man,  he  loved  common 
men.  Sympathy  with  oppressed  laboring  men 
was  the  foundation  of  his  political  opinions. 

20 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

He  could  touch  the  heart  strings  of  a  common 
jury  with  unerring  tact. 

Many  years  ago  he  was  engaged  in  a  jury 
trial  at  Washington,  111.  His  opponent  was  a 
Mr.  Merriman,  a  man  who  loved  fun  even 
better  than  Lincoln  himself.  The  merits  of 
the  case  were  with  Mr.  Merriman  and  he  felt 
too  safe.  On  the  occasion  of  some  mistake  in 
words  or  statement  he  remarked  that  it  was 
evident  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  received  a 
college  education.  In  his  answering  argument 
Mr.  Lincoln  said:  "It  is  true  as  stated  by  Mr. 
Merriman  that  I  have  not  enjoyed  the  benefit 
of  a  college  education.  While  he  was  in  col- 
lege I  was  mauling  rails  at  25  cents  a  hundred 
to  support  my  poor  old  mother  with  these 
hands."  As  he  stood  with  his  ample  palms 
extended  and  with  the  air  of  a  humble  labor- 
ing man,  his  case  was  won.  Next  morning  my 
brother-in-law,  who  had  heard  the  trial,  met 
one  of  the  jurors.  "Well,  Mr.  Burkley,"hesaid, 
"you  found  in  favor  of  Lincoln."  "Yes,"  an- 
swered the  juror,  "it  was  right.  He  worked 
to  support  his  poor  old  mother." 

He  was  a  man  of  clear  ideas  and  had  a  con- 
cise and  happy  way  of  expressing  them.  His 
training  in  courts  where  the  common  law 
system  of  pleading  prevailed  and  before  juries 
contributed  to  his  style,  but  nature  had  fur- 

21 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

nished  him  with  ability  to  express  clear 
thought  in  impressive  language.  There  was  a 
conscious  effort  on  his  part  to  attain  a  proper 
way  of  "putting  things." 

As  I  was  talking  with  him  one  day,  some 
one  remarked  that  law  was  only  horse  sense 
anyhow.  He  answered,  "It  is  horse  sense  re- 
fined." 

Once  when  a  pretty  expensive  suit  had  been 
concluded  I  remarked,  "Mr.  Lincoln,  that 
suit  has  cost  the  county  three  hundred  dol- 
lars." He  answered,  "Yes,  they  do  things 
quicker  in  Turkey,  but  perhaps  our  way  is  as 
good."  The  advantage  he  derived  from  his 
way  of  putting  things  appeared  in  his  debate 
with  Douglas. 

His  mind  reached  out  beyond  his  sphere  of 
law  and  politics.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a 
reader  of  history.  I  know  nothing  on  that 
point,  but  happened  to  hear  of  a  case  of  scien- 
tific curiosity.  When  a  law  student  I  was 
boarding  at  the  same  hotel  with  that  amiable 
gentleman  and  able  lawyer,  Judge  Dickey, 
afterwards  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  our  state. 
One  day  he  put  me  this  question:  "Three 
men  are  to  carry  a  long,  heavy  log.  One  is  to 
take  an  end  on  his  shoulder,  the  other  two  are 
to  put  a  stick  under  the  log,  and  each  take  an 
end  of  the  stick  on  his  shoulder.     Where  shall 

22 


>  >f* 


Personal  Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 

they  put  the  stick  so  that  each  of  the  men 
shall  carry  the  same  weight?" 

I  made  a  calculation  and  handed  my  result 
to  the  judge.  "That  is  right,"  said  he.  "Lin- 
coln and  I  had  that  question  and  we  tried  it 
with  weights.  That  was  the  way  it  came 
out. ' '  Here  was  certainly  a  spark  of  the  Bacon- 
ian spirit. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  movement,  a 
word  or  a  sentence  discloses  a  man's  leading 
trait.  One  day  in  passing  a  store  in  Spring- 
field I  heard  voices  in  animated  discussion, 
and  two  men  came  out.  They  were  no  ordi- 
nary disputants.  One  was  Judge  Logan,  the 
other  Lincoln.  I  did  not  learn  the  subject  of 
conversation.  It  closed  with  a  remark  of  Lin- 
coln, "But  can  you  get  the  votes?"  It  was 
evident  that  while  Mr.  Lincoln  conceded  some 
position  in  point  of  merit,  he  was  doubtful  of 
its  practicability.  In  his  view  correct  divin- 
ation of  public  opinion  was  the  main  feature 
of  statesmanship,  and  an  election  the  test  of 
public  opinion. 

GEORGE  W.  SHAW 

Geneseo,  111.,  Nov.  16,  1911. 


23 


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PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOL 


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